Very Black Friday (a.k.a Storm Arwen)

[Bigfoot]

At 1610 on Black Friday, Storm Arwen hit and our power went out. 99.5 hours later we had power again. No lights, no heating, no hot food, no internet, no mobile signal, no hot water - it makes one realise how dependent we are now on electricity. Fortunately, we have a wood burning stove, so that kept the lounge warm. The biggest frustration was the emergency power cuts phone number (we still had a landline). We got very generic information via recorded messages and kept getting redirected to websites and Facebook when it should be obvious to the network company, that without power nobody could access them.

Tomorrow I will get my first hot shower since Friday - I had an ice cold one this morning to make me vaguely suitable for the office.

 

[SpyderTracks]

At 1610 on Black Friday, Storm Arwen hit and our power went out. 99.5 hours later we had power again. No lights, no heating, no hot food, no internet, no mobile signal, no hot water - it makes one realise how dependent we are now on electricity. Fortunately, we have a wood burning stove, so that kept the lounge warm. The biggest frustration was the emergency power cuts phone number (we still had a landline). We got very generic information via recorded messages and kept getting redirected to websites and Facebook when it should be obvious to the network company, that without power nobody could access them.

Tomorrow I will get my first hot shower since Friday - I had an ice cold one this morning to make me vaguely suitable for the office.

Woah..... that's a LONG time to go without power, I did wonder how you guys were up north!

Is everyone ok? I find being without internet surprisingly stressful!

Who on earth was the network company?

 

[Bigfoot]

Woah..... that's a LONG time to go without power, I did wonder how you guys were up north!

Is everyone ok? I find being without internet surprisingly stressful!

Who on earth was the network company?

We are alright, but a bit fed up. SSEN are the network company. I think the 105 number directs you to the appropriate company. The recorded messages got more and more repetitive and generic. We expected a delay in reconnection, but not this long and not so many missed targets. They said the damage to the network was catastrophic and three times worse than that from the Beast From The East.

 

[SpyderTracks]

We are alright, but a bit fed up. SSEN are the network company. I think the 105 number directs you to the appropriate company. The recorded messages got more and more repetitive and generic. We expected a delay in reconnection, but not this long and not so many missed targets. They said the damage to the network was catastrophic and three times worse than that from the Beast From The East.

God, that shower is going to be incredible, I'm very pleased it's coming back.

 

[Bigfoot]

Some of my colleagues are still without power and / or water. Hopefully they will also be sorted soon.

 

[Scott]

Oh that's not good at all. I would be climbing the walls

Glad you got through it relatively unscathed though. I just presumed that the masts for mobile would be on a different grid. Hadn't considered the lack of signal.

I was due to have an overnight in Inverness on Saturday. Left around 10am with a 3hr 20 min journey time. An hour into the journey, the time goes from 2hrs 20 to 3hrs 20 again and directs me off of the A9. I follow the guidance only to be met with a road closed sign 20 mins later. Turned out the 2 main routes to Inverness were closed due to Snow, accidents, gritters & plows not being able to keep up etc.

4 hour round trip to Burger King in Stirling it became

 

[AgentCooper]

4 hour round trip to Burger King in Stirling it became

You can’t always Have It Your Way…

I’ll get my coat…

 

[Scott]

There wasn't an emoticon for just how awful that was

 

[AgentCooper]

There wasn't an emoticon for just how awful that was

I know, it was a Whopper 😶

 

[Martinr36]

4 hour round trip to Burger King in Stirling it became

Could have been worse it could have been a wimpy

 

[Bigfoot]

Oh that's not good at all. I would be climbing the walls

Glad you got through it relatively unscathed though. I just presumed that the masts for mobile would be on a different grid. Hadn't considered the lack of signal.

I was due to have an overnight in Inverness on Saturday. Left around 10am with a 3hr 20 min journey time. An hour into the journey, the time goes from 2hrs 20 to 3hrs 20 again and directs me off of the A9. I follow the guidance only to be met with a road closed sign 20 mins later. Turned out the 2 main routes to Inverness were closed due to Snow, accidents, gritters & plows not being able to keep up etc.

4 hour round trip to Burger King in Stirling it became

The A9 is not my favourite road in the best of conditions and Friday’s weather was far from ideal. We only had a couple of inches of snow and freezing temperatures but higher up was worse. I know the snow gates were closed on the road from Cockbridge to Tomintoul and expect they were also close at Glenshee on the A93. Slochd and Drumochter on the A9 are way higher than 1,000 feet above sea level, so I am not surprised there were problems.